Politics Politics Politics

So do we trust them? Politicians I mean. Doesn't it always seem the case that they say one thing and then do another? That they never REALLY listen to the voters? That they're all out of touch in their "ivory castles"?

The jury's out until 2009 in the USA on that one at least; so what of over here?

By a way of a few examples, (and this would equally apply to the opposition parties if they had been able to get elected!) in the last ten years and against all promises: NHS waiting lists have increased, Carbon dioxide emissions have not declined, we still recycle less household waste below than the 25% target, only 3% of energy comes from renewable sources and so on and so forth. The icing on the cake is that boy are we all paying more tax one way or another???!!! Remember? Things were gonna get better. Remember?!

So, if the recent US election campaigns have been able to galvanise huge tranches of voters, previously unstirred or untapped, into making it to the polling booths then why not here? Can the fever and fervour, almost seen after the Blair evangelism of 1997, be recreated in the UK? Can the apathy and cynicism be overcome? The so-called party spindoctors are desperately carrying out post-mortems on the "Obama phenomenom" to see what little if any they can apply this side of the pond.

Well, maybe if we really had a few more home-truths both entering into and coming out of Westminster we'd have stepped onto the first rung of the ladder to political salvation.

But much much more than that, whilst we can accept the fallibilities of politicians we still can't stomach their duplicities. And why should we? Why should we care for someone who has both hands in the expenses trough or is perceived as abusing their position to better their own life whilst espousing seemingly contradictory political views? Why would even begin to contemplate voting for such people?

Where is the humility? The empathy? The reality?

By way of a start, take away the sound bites, get rid of the voice and gesture coaching, strip away the phoney corporate identities and answer a few straight question without evading the issues. Not everybody loves the Paxman or Humphries techniques, but we can all understand the need for a simple answer occasionally.

If THEY can't provide one then they will never be worth our vote!